I had the luxury of seeing those words fall from the lips of Nelson Mandela in Miami in the 1990s, as a reporter for The Westside Gazette Newspaper. He attributed it to Marianne Williamson, and the brilliance shining off him from the stage, definitely uplifted me. Since then, I’ve made a practice of telling everyone I interact with the most positive things that come to mind and affirm the Oneness of humanity and the planet.
I’m so excited to be writing this blog on the last day of January, as I have not missed a month of writing about national parks in 20 years. Every day I post prolifically about them on social media. Since I wrote last December, my husband Frank and I changed residence in Jamaica, moving from our friend’s placid gardens in the countryside to the high energy mountains above Kingston. When we first walked in and saw the view from the balcony we immediately told the agent, “Cancel the other appointments. We’re taking this.”
The absolute coup de grace came last Thursday, two days after we moved in. Enjoying coffee on the balcony and waiting for the first rays of the sun to appear over the mountains, I suddenly realized that I was looking at a national park!! Those rugged mountains are home to the Blue and John Crown Mountains National Park, a World Heritage Site designated by UNESCO. It shares that status with places around the world that have no equal, such as the Grand Canyon, the Pyramids of Giza and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, plus 1151 others. These places are above price as they bear the record of Earth and the effect of human activity. They are every one’s birthright though many may not know the great treasury to which we are heirs.
I’m in awe of the force or power that brought us to this spot, quite without any conscious action on our part. With a World Heritage Site always before my eyes I sense the whole world and looking through our bedroom window early morning at the three largest mountains together I feel as if I’m in the presence of the Great Pyramids.
Obviously we play a part in our own happiness by doing the things we are impelled to do and being fearless – many couples of 70 and 85 years old may not be enthusiastic about so much change. But this has proven to me once again that there are forces at work in our lives that see better for us than we even see for ourselves, and if we stay true to our vision we will be rewarded beyond our wildest dreams.
At this elevation (pun intended) of mind, body, spirit and soul, my great desire is to help create a community of people who are open to sharing and building upon feelings of security and love. When you accept that the universe is working proactively for you, you can lay down arms. We didn’t “fight” for any of this, we just did what we were impelled to do, with faith that it would all work out.
On this last day of the first and very eventful month of 2022, I AM launching a new blog, “Audrey’s Joy Train,” and inviting you to get onboard by subscribing for any amount. In return, I will start your week off every Monday (God willing, as we do not control life and time) with a message of affirmation and joy.
I will ask you to look at yourself in the light of Marianne Williamson’s statement, and credit yourself for the places you were heroic, or you suffered but kept the faith. The distortion of “celebrity” in society has led us to worship people whose only accomplishment is fame, while discounting our own struggles and accomplishments. We must upend that to reclaim our source of rejuvenating joy. I will show you how easily and conveniently I do that every day.
I use the word “polyglot” in my headline though it refers to one who speaks multiple languages. By extrapolation, I am a polyglot of national parks and the environment, speaking their language as an explorer, advocate, consultant to concessionaires and historical societies operating within the parks and multiple other capacities. I plan to share podcasts that look at current events through the eyes of a Jamaican-born woman who is receiving the National Parks Conservation Association’s Centennial Leadership Award in April and provide easy ways for us to make our leaders know what we value.
I especially want to declare my elation at the message we received last week from Frank’s fraternity brother, former National Park Service Director Robert Stanton, advising that their Omega Psi Phi brother, ‘Buffalo Soldier’ Charles Young has been posthumously promoted by the US Army from Colonel to the rank of Brigadier General.
I’m looking forward to telling you more about this heroic officer and his incredible feats, including riding 500 miles on horseback from his home in Ohio to Washington DC to contest his dismissal for “ill health.” To keep him in the army would have meant giving him the promotion he’d earned, which would place him in the leadership of white troops in WWI. We’re making progress when his home is now a National Monument to the Buffalo Soldiers and his rank has been established, albeit more than a century late.
Please join the Joy Train! Let us celebrate our accomplishments and use the means we have at our disposal to create the change we all want to see.
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